Rural India is poor

People in India’s villages are poor. The primary breadwinner in three of four rural households earns less than Rs 5,000 a month, according to independent India's first Socio-Economic and Caste Census (2011). There is no reason to be surprised or shocked. The two — and only two — sources of revenue generation in villages are agriculture and artisanship, both vocations that give marginal profits. Given that, even in theory a typical villager can at best only sustain himself. That can also be understood by the fact that the share of agriculture (read rural life) in the GDP is around 13 per cent, while more than 60 per cent of India's population is dependent on it. Simple arithmetic will explain the reasons behind rural poverty.

A look at what constitutes a village or rural life would be in order. Historically these were small congregations of people largely occupied in agriculture, the sole economy before industrialisation. Along came development, which brought benefits for those with ‘skills’ in urban areas, where industries were set up. Villages got left by the wayside. Today, villages are merely retainers for the poor and deprived till they can find a way out of the misery. The census tells us only 3.45 per cent of rural households have any graduate. Pray, what would a graduate do in a village? The moment a person has a degree, he will leave the village. Any census for villages would thus always paint a grim picture.

In population percentage terms it is hard to reduce poverty in villages. But it is indeed possible to reduce the total rural population by finding villagers employment outside. The idyllic notion of a happy rural population in equilibrium with its environment is a mirage. A look at any developed country (not Modi’s idea of India) would show us that the few villages left have only residents who are fully engaged in farming. The census should be a wake-up call to the NDA government — that rural India is large and extremely poor. The only way to get it out of there is to provide education, health and agricultural development. Did anyone say socialism?